Sam Dixon - Servant of Jesus, Servant to Haiti, Servant to the World. We love you and miss you.

CHRONOLOGY OF RECOVERY

When the 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck at 4:53 p.m., then UMCOR head, the Rev. Sam Dixon, was already in the country designing, with Eglise Methodiste d’Haiti (EMH, the Methodist Church of Haiti) and other partners, a plan to improve health ministries in the country.

Dixon was accompanied by the head of United Methodist Volunteers in Mission, the Rev. Clinton Rabb, and UMCOR consultant the Rev. James L. Gulley. Rubble from the Montana Hotel trapped the three, along with colleagues from IMA World Health. Dixon and Rabb later succumbed to their injuries.

The work Dixon and Rabb began in Haiti has continued, as UMCOR presses forward a five-year plan to respond to earthquake survivors in the context of long-term development. UMCOR’s priorities are focused on the areas of health, shelter, water and sanitation, education, and livelihoods.

Read Haiti: Progressing with Hope – a timeline of UMCOR’s relief and recovery activities in Haiti since the earthquake.

You can always make an on-line donation at Haiti Relief Give Now

LAYING A FOUNDATION

Over the course of the first year of UMCOR’s relief and recovery work in Haiti, the organization has Read more »

A Haitian boy receives treatment at an ad hoc medical clinic at MINUSTAH's logistics base after an earthquake measuring 7 plus on the Richter scale rocked Port au Prince Haiti just before 5 pm on January 12, 2009. Logan Abassi / The United Nations

Two weeks ago, a NC Conference Work Team that included many members of our Cabinet, journeyed to Haiti and worked on the Ryan Epps Home for Children. Our team accomplished much in this wondrous worshipful work and many opportunities remain to complete the good work that God has begun!  You can help!

We are providing a list of materials needed to complete the interior of the dormitories, the dining/family area, and the living quarters of the director’s family.  So, if you have not already done so, please join us in this ministry of shelter and life and love.

Please pass along the Opportunities and Needs List for Ryan Epps Home.   You will touch the lives of these beautiful children at Ryan Epps who would otherwise be living on the streets in the midst of this Haitian nightmare of earthquake damage and destruction, a place and event that has been forgotten or ignored by so many in the world. Read more »

Children of Ryan Epps give thumbs-up on new construction!

Funds are still being received to purchase building supplies for the new construction at the Ryan Epps Home for Children in Haiti.  Bishop Gwinn and members of the Conference Cabinet are traveling to Haiti to construct the next phase at the REHC.  They will use materials purchased from funds contributed by conference churches and local church members.  Each Cabinet member has paid their own expenses and 100% of the raised funds are being used in the construction.

Please consider supporting this important ministry to God’s most vulnerable.

You can forward a donation directly to the North Carolina Conference, P.O. Box 60053, Charlotte, NC 28260-0053.

Please make checks payable to “NC Conference/Raleigh Area” and place “Advance #S00245″ on the memo line.  100% of your gift will go to the Ryan Epps Home for Children.

You can read more about Ryan Epps and this effort at Construction.

“UMCOR is in Haiti on behalf of the United Methodist Church, but more importantly, we are there for the people of Haiti,” said The Rev. Cynthia Fierro Harvey at the General Board of Global Ministries’ board meeting in Stamford, CT on October 11. Harvey is the head of The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), which is part of Global Ministries.

She continued, “The question we ask in our work is ‘how do we build the capacity of communities and give the Haitian people ownership?’ It is not about us.”

During these nine months since the devastating earthquake in Haiti, UMCOR provided assistance to survivors and built a foundation for a large-scale, long-term recovery effort. UMCOR is carefully distributing the more than $40 million donated by United Methodists and other faithful supporters in ways that will empower the Haitian people and build a sustainable infrastructure.

During the meeting, Melissa Crutchfield, head of UMCOR’s international disaster response, outlined the work that has been accomplished and laid out a plan for moving forward. She also addressed and explained some unique challenges facing relief organizations that are responding to the Haiti earthquake. For more information and to see how you might be in partnership with these important efforts, please see United Methodists Respond in Haiti.

Today we begin the journey of 10-Fold in Haiti.  Please visit 10-Fold.org today and hear first-hand about another ministry supported by the United Methodist Church that is making a difference and changing people’s lives.  If you register while you visit, $1.00 will be donated by today’s sponsor on your behalf.  You make a difference simply by showing up.  Please journey with us so that we might change the world … “on earth as it is in heaven.”   Read more »

NEW YORK (UMNS) – For 10 days starting this Sunday, United Methodists and others will be able to see a live commissioning service for missionaries and cooking demonstrations with sustainable farm-grown ingredients. They can hear missionaries tell about their work in the field.

This is all possible because of an online event called 10-Fold, which launches Oct. 10 and lasts for 10 days. Using Skype technology, downloadable podcasts, streaming videos and online chats, visitors to the website 10-Fold.org

will connect directly with missionaries and selected ministry projects supported through The Advance, the designated-giving program of The United Methodist Church.

A concert to raise funds to purchase materials for constructing the next phase of the Ryan Epps Home for Children (REHC) in Michaud, Haiti will be held Friday, Sept. 17, 7 p.m. at Garner UMC, 201 Methodist Dr. The home benefits children without parents and other children signed over to REHC because of the inability of parents to provide support. Further detail about the home and musicians, visit: http://www.ryaneppshome.com/ and  http://www.music4haiti.org.

Bishop Al Gwinn and the Conference Cabinet will travel to Haiti in November to construct the next phase at the REHC. They will use materials provided from concert funds. Each Cabinet member will be paying their own way to Haiti and 100% of the raised funds will be used in the construction. Included in the construction will be dormitories, kitchen/fellowship area and living quarters for the director and staff.

Anyone unable to attend the concert can forward a donation directly to the North Carolina Conference, P.O. Box 60053, Charlotte, NC 28260-0053. Please make checks payable to “NC Conference/Raleigh Area” and place “Advance #S00245″ on the memo line.

To download bulletin inserts for this wonderful concert and mission opportunity, please follow these links:

Bulletin Insert Front

Bulletin Insert Back